Prism Keeper Orange was sitting on the purple part of the clover on the top of Clover Tower in the waning of the day. She looked like she was in thought, staring at nothing in particular on the horizon. In her hands was the invitation that Maeko had left Haru. Nothing was wrong about it-- and if there was any lingering dark traces- it'd long dissapeared. The paper wasn't cursed or anything-- her wand wasn't reacting to it.
And orange glow seemed to dissapear from the paper- fading over the past few moments from her latest attempt to figure anything about it out she could with her Chroma Prism- which wasn't a hell of a lot- the Prism was not some computer or scanner- Orange could only infer things by who it acted.
She sighed a bit as she tapped her hand against the ground in her kneeling postion. She figured, perhaps, this was a dead end. It was worth the attempt at least. Right...? Yeah, she knew it was.
Haru had been flying a patrol of the city, seeing if there was any lasting evil magic from that ruckus the previous night. He hadn't been able to get out to it, but it was stopped, thankfully. Now, as Hunter, he's seeing if there's anything remaining. And then suddenly Anthos Armonia, in his staff shape, pinged softly.
<<Unidentified magic detected,>> he declared flatly, in his deep monotone voice. <<Cross-checking data. Closest match: Prism Keeper Orange.>>
Haru blinks. Reiko? What's she doing out here? "Show me," he requests. And then he follows Anthy's 'pull'.
For Reiko, there's a flash of emerald green, and the trailing movements of a cape fly across her field of vision. He pauses near the tower, in a hover, long enough to confirm it's actually Reiko. "Evening," he offers, nearing the tower. There's a smile on what of his face can be seen.
Prism Keeper Orange begins to fold up the letter and maybe leave- then there's a flash of a cape, green. She blinks a bit and turns around and.. oh. H-hunter. >,>. Darn wait-- he.. knows who she is now. Doesn't he? Ugh. That's really awkward! She clears her throat. "Oh--um. H--Hi Hunter!" she says with a smile- despite her hesitant and inheret awkwardness. "How are you? I was.. trying to figure out if this letter could lead me to that creepy doll at the party..." she says looking down.
"Um.. thanks for. Helping with that. That was a big mess." she says gently. "Hah...guess you saw me untransform too... didn't. Mean to do that. I think I can trust you though." she says with a soft smile.
"Um. How are you...?" she asks softly.
The greeting gets a polite nod. And the mention of the invitation prompts, "Did you find out anything?" As he asks the question he nears the tower enough that he can land near Reiko. He smiles, though, when she points out that he knows who she is. "It's all right. I understand the need for secrecy. I won't say anything to anyone about it," he promises.
As for how he is. "Well enough," he replies. And then he asks another question. "What's going on with the creepy doll?"
Prism Keeper Orange sighs. "Nope. Chroma Prism isn't reacting to, nor does it react violently when I charge it with color energy. So it's probably just a piece of paper with ink on it." she smiles wryly. She sighs and sort of kneels back down on the ground as she folds the paper up. She nods a bit.
She looks down. "She's... Maeko. From what she's told me, She's a doll that was abanonded so it began to resent humans for abandoning toys. She was found by someone and played with, but she couldn't play with her everyday because of like, you know school... so it possesed her and drives her around now and uses Misa to do things..like my party." she sighs.
"Misa is my friend.. I'm maybe.. her only friend. Because the doll attacks everyone who tries to get close to Misa out of jealousy.. it calls Misa... her toy." she sighs. "But I'm doing my best to not be afraid of that thing. I think this is my fault. Why she won't give Misa back or back out of her because I didn't run away like everyone else..." she says.
Hunter nods. "I had thought as much. If there had been something dark about it, it would have contaminated Haru," he notes, when Reiko mentions she hasn't gotten any reaction out of it. "Should I see if Anthy can find anything?" he offers. "It's very likely he won't, but is it worth trying?"
Hunter remains quiet as Reiko explains what's going on with Maeko and Misa. It's good he came to her as Hunter to ask, since Haru wouldn't have been able to get her to admit this. Which makes sense; as far as Reiko knows, Haru is just some weird florist.
Though he does note something. "Well, none of the food was poisoned, was it? There were presents from her that weren't dark, am I right? And even if a little creepy... the surprise party was kind of nice of her. Maybe Misa's starting to 'infect' the doll a little with her feelings of friendship with you?" he suggests.
Though he has to shake his head at the last. "No," he replies. "If you weren't there, Misa would think she had no one left. She wouldn't see a need to fight, and would just submit. If she hasn't done that, you may be the only reason she hasn't just given up and let the doll have her permanently. If she's still doing good things for you, then there's still a piece of her in there somewhere."
Prism Keeper Orange frowns. "That doll has used Misa's visage and personality as it's own to trick me one time, I would not be surprised if the doll did this to try to hurt me someway." she says with a sigh. "But maybe you're right..." she says with a soft sigh. "I guess I won't know until I'm able to talk to 'actually Misa' again..." she says looking down.
"Maybe I'm just worried is all." she says with a soft sigh. "I just hope she is fighting.. or isn't giving up in there somehow. I just need to keep trying." she says. "I'm not giving up, at least." she says softly.
She looks up and hands over the invitation. "Here." she says. "You can scan it, maybe your device can tell you more than I can figure out." she says softly with a series of nods.
She head tilts and stands up a bit and waits curiously.
Hunter nods. "As much as you want to help her, ultimately I think this is her battle to fight," he adds. "But there may be more going on with the situation than I know, admittedly." He nods. "I'm sure she's still fighting, as long as she knows you're still here for her."
Scan? Hunter brings the staff he carries forwards and directs, "Anthy, scan the invitation for an anomalies." There's a soft ping from the teardrop-shaped emerald, and a magic circle appears around the haft of the weapon. A gleam appears on the emerald, sliding back and forth across the gem. And then it stops, and the circle disappears.
<<No anomalies found.>>
"Apparently not," Hunter replies. "I'm sorry."
Prism Keeper Orange nods. "Yeah. But doesn't mean I should sit back and not help or try to get through..." she says as she smiles a bit. "Thanks Anthy~" she says softly- because as far as she knows, devices are kind of like tiny computer people as far as she's seen! She nods a bit. "I just need to do my best! And that's all... I can really do." she sighs and shakes her head.
She sighs a bit as she mutters. "Haru-san was nice to give that to me even though he had to no reason to and it was a really silly request..." she mutters. "I bet he thinks I'm really weird about that." she giggles nervously.
Wait, ugh, she bets Hunter thinks she's weird too.. she blushes a bit as she mutters. "Not the first person to think I'm weird..." she says.
Hunter nods. "Exactly. Perhaps when she realizes you are there for here, she'll have better luck against the doll," he suggests. "Perhaps she'll find the strength to fight back, to take hold of the hand you have out to her." Figuratively, of course. Though possibly literally. Anthy offers a soft ping in response to Reiko's thanks, but is silent otherwise.
The mention of Haru, the silly request, and weirdness gets a bit of a snicker. "If he thought you were weird, that would either be right up his street or he'd be a hypocrite," he says, half-teasing. "There is a high per-capita occurrance of weirdness in the florist sector, and he got a double-dose of it."
Hunter tilts his head. It feels weird talking about himself in the third person. "Weird isn't a bad thing," he says. "If everybody was the same, humanity would be a boring, bland canvas of same-ness. The world would be beige. Possibly literally. All music would consist of only the middle 'C', and there'd be no lyrics." Pause, smirk, "Haru calls it 'weird and wonderful'."
Prism Keeper Orange sighs. "People call me... the weird fishgirl sometimes." she smiles wryly. "Because I like fish and that's strange to people I guess because people see fish as these slimy things but-- you're not even supposed to touch em! It's /bad/ to touch em! It degrades the slimecoat they have that protects them from disease..." she frowns.
"You're supposed to look at them and they're pretty n' all that." she says with a huff. She frowns a bit, then head tilts with a blush at Hunter.
"S-sorry I guess, just kinda passionate about that." she says. She huffs and looks down. She looks up. "I didn't want to pry... but I guess that answers a question I had... if you knew Haru or not." she says with another blush.
"He knows about water plants. I know a little about that too- not a lot. I concentrate more on the fish than the flora- I was just going to plant some basic submerged plants- but it seemed like a good time to talk to him about some other things too." she says with a soft series of nods.
"Um.." she says.
"My name's.. Reiko Touyama. I mean. You saw me.. but I dunno. If I told you my name." she mutters.
Hunter nods. "People are used to pets they can pick up, and pet, and hug," he reasons. "And to be fair, there are health benefits from petting dogs and cats. But when you have pets like... fish, snakes, lizards, and things like that, people start thinking they're 'weird' because they're not the kinds of pets they're used to. They're just not like dogs and cats. 'Weird' can be good, though."
He nods. "Yes, I do know him," he confirms. Probably rather unnecessarily. He smirks. He's always been thought of as weird, too. You must have noticed that he wears makeup sometimes. He does that over the objections of other people. And just like you know fish, like you said, he knows plants and flowers. He doesn't let it bother him. There's always going to be someone who isn't going to understand. Conversely, there will always be someone who does."
As for her name? Hunter nods once more. "I know your name," he offers pleasantly. "Haru's mentioned you. But it's a pleasure to finally meet you, Touyama-san." He offers a smile.
Prism Keeper Orange huffs. "I love watching fish. That's kind of my happy place.. you know? Koi especially but I like the aquarium too. I have a small fishtank at home, I keep a couple of goldfish because they're easy to care for-- just two though in a ten gallon tank." she nods matter of factly! "Five Gallons to a Goldfish!" she insists. "People who use fishbowls are hurting the fish... and those tiny bowls are good for Bettas because they're used to the low oxygen enviroment and being cramped up-- but for goldfish it's like if I stuck ya into a box lined with mud and a candy bar and told you to live there for a week and not get terribly ill by the end of it!" she huffs.
She blushes. "Ahaha--sorry I guess I'm just kind of passionate about it." she mutters.
She head tilts and blushes some more. "I think it makes him look pretty." she insists.
Then she blushes. "But I mean. That's. a good thing! to me..." she mutters.
"I don't mean it like-- like a girl!" she says softly.
"...yeah...!" she says, keep digging that hole, Orange! A koi appears and just facepalms next to her before poofing away into a sparkle of orange.
Hunter tilts his head as he listens to Reiko explain about the fish. "That makes sense... betta are hardier fish, aren't they? Goldfish seem like they're more like domestic cats, being bred for a softer, less strenuous lifestyle. I've seen them pinecone, where their scales stick all out. It's kind of disturbing, actually. And I've heard it's incredibly bad."
Mind, he can't help but snicker a bit when Reiko starts digging a hole, figuratively speaking, like a dwarf with a pickaxe. Still, he can't help but blush a little. Thankfully he can tilt his head to the side and have his hood hide it. It's almost possible to forget she's actually talking about HIM, even if he's hiding who he is.
"Should I tell him you said that? Or would you prefer to tell him yourself?" Hunter inquires. The tone is a teasing one.
Prism Keeper Orange will probably tell Haru someday that she likes Hunter and Haru will get a tremendous kick out of this. For now she just sort of crosses her arms. She sighs and nods. "Yeah, that's called dropsy, but it isn't a condition in and of itself, it means something else is wrong- an infection or a bacteria-- it just means the fish is holding fluid." she frowns. "There's ways to treat it, but isolation is the first thing you should do with a sick fish, then change and treat the water in the main tank ASAP- else the other fish may get sick!" she says.
She nods a bit. "Goldfish are lackadaisy. They usually don't spook easily unless you stress them out-- the ones in pet stores are like that... cuz parents let thier jerky kids tap on the glass!" she frowns. "...but they usually like to laze about!~" she giggles. "Mine greet me in the mornings but they also know I feed them in the morning." she insists.
She then blushes and huffs. "I--wha!? don't do that!" she flails a bit! "I--if I can get the courage maybe I'll tell him myself, I dunno..." she mutters.
"Just..." she sighs. "There was a guy I liked, recently... and-- by the time I got the courage to say anything... he'd already found someone else- and it hurt a whole lot." she admits.
She sighs. "...I've only known him a handful of days? But he seems really nice- and if I /do/ like him I should say.. something but... you know? it's hard." she blushes.
--and of course she thinks--- Hunter's another can of worms and she does think about that, but wouldn't she look lame if she mentioned someone else too slyly?
Why is this so complex. Ugh.
UGH!
Like it was bad enough having a thing for one guy but there's two and she looks conflicted for a moment.
Wait she's like gushing over this other guy to another guy and she suddenly realizes she's coming off as rude. "I mean, you're nice too...!" she blushes. "I'm not...saying...um..."
Oh god what is she saying.
Like three koi appear, facefin then dissapear over this one.
"Ah, so it's a symptom of an underlying problem?" Hunter inquires, regarding this 'dropsy'. "That does sound bad. It's contagious? Or is the isolation for the sake of the fish with dropsy?" He finds it interesting, truth be told. Fish are like living flowers, swimming underwater!
And then Reiko's sudden verbal stumbling... that gets a chuckle. Ah, if it weren't rude he'd hug her. It's adorable. "It's all right," he says. "Nothing wrong with fancying someone, even if you've just met them. You do have a normal life, and it's natural to gravitate towards normal things."
Prism Keeper Orange says. "A little of both. The thing causing the dropsy could be a bacteria- which can spread or be cast into the tank. A virus which isn't as spread easily but can still be, or something wrong with the tank itself..." she mutters softly and sighs.
She then frowns. "Eh-- the last guy was kind of like.. a magic prince..." she blushes. "But... meh. Maybe I'm not good enough for that or just geeky... the girl he went with is--- very cool and collected and a nice person and not so much of a dork..." she says.
Then she blinks- and begins to backtrack, /again/. "I..I'm not saying I only deserve dorks or nerds or weird people!" she suddely says. "It's just. meh-- I dunno what I'm even saying." she wilts. No koi this time.
"Just.. when you compare me to her I come up short, ya know?" she says meekly, and a little self-conciously.
"Don't think it's that," Hunter replies. He chances patting her on the shoulder when she seems to wilt like that. "Things are difficult for us at these ages. Comparisons aren't really fair, to you or her. Everyone has pluses and minuses."
He pauses. "You ever heard that proverb? That if you spend the entirety of a fish's life telling him he's stupid because he can't climb a tree, he'll live his whole life thinking he's stupid?" he asks. "It's like that. No one is really 'better' wholesale than anyone else because of one thing or another. Sure, people are better than others at specific things. But not wholesale 'better' than you, or me, or anyone else."
Prism Keeper Orange is pat on the shoulder, she doesn't seem to mind the contact at least. "Yeah..." she says with a soft sigh.
She listens to that proberb and thinks for a bit. She blinks. "Some fish do climb trees." she says and then she just outright blushes a lot.
"B--but I know what you're trying to say!" she says with a blush. "Nrg, see-- like. You were just trying to say something to help me and--I spout out something like that. I don't know... like.." she sighs a bit and just sighs.
She just sighs. "Sometimes I wish I wasn't just so much a dork and..."
"I spent a lot of time trying to... become elegant to get that boy's attention and it didn't really work." she admits. "I guess like, I try to be elegant like a fish or a koi and I just end up fumbling." she grumbles.
"I mean... boys like elegant girls. I figure..." she says softly.
Hunter chuckles at the pointing out of fish that climb. "Goldfish?" he inquires, with a smirk, visible past his hood. But yes. He nods when Reiko indicates she understands what he means. "There's an old comedy movie where this elegant princess type ends up far away from her home. She's spoiled and bratty, even though she's an adult. Oh, and she causes so much trouble, because she's pampered and elegant and spoiled."
"Besides." Here Hunter pauses. "It would be worse, I think, for him to have fallen for your elegant persona and then found out it was just a mask. You'd have had to pretend around him. Pretending to be something you're not is hard. It's why I've never bothered with that sort of thing. I'd rather people honestly dislike me for who I am than to like me for something I'm not."
Prism Keeper Orange sighs and wilts and thinks... "I guess your right just...." she sighs.
"I guess it's kind of selfish of me." she admits. "I guess I just have something to prove...."
"...and I guess I guess a lot!" she says with a blush and a huff.
She sighs a bit. "I had someone tell me... I'm too young to bother with this stuff." she grumbles a bit. "I think that's silly..." she says, crossing her arms.
"Just because I'm young doesn't invalidate my feelings or make them silly.." she says as she sighs.
Then she looks up and blinks. "I'm sorry. I really...shouldn't be bothering you with my problems Hunter." she sighs with another blush. "I'm sorry." she says as she looks back over the skyline a moment.
Hunter chuckles. "Everyone guesses a lot," he counters with a smile. "Even the adults. They act like they know what they're doing, but a lot of the time they really don't. Sometimes you have to just forge on and hope you're doing it right."
As for the 'bothering' him? "You arne't bothering me. I get the feeling you don't get to talk about it a lot," Hunter replies. "I consider it a compliment that you seem to trust me enough to tell me about all this. I've noticed that people don't tend to talk about their feelings very often. Even when it could avert a huge misunderstanding. People are so afraid of hurting others and being hurt that they hold it all him. Holding it in for too long isn't good."
Prism Keeper Orange sighs. "Yeah." she admits softly. She sighs and looks back to Hunter. She smiles. "We-well you've been nice to me..." she blushes a bit. "--and reminded me about Haru-san's gift that night..." she says. "I'd probably had forgotten it too late or maybe at all after all that." she says. "...and the flowers made me feel special.. you know?" she blushes a bit.
"I've been putting them into the fridge at night like he said and they're doing well." she says. "I put them on my dresser next to the fishtank." she says softly.
She kind of bites her lip. "I feel bad he had to leave early, but at the same time, I'm glad he wasn't caught up in that whole doll mess." she says a little relived with a whew. "That'd been really embarassing to explain away..."
"Ah yes. The flowers." Hunter smiles. "Violets, was it?" he inquires, as if he'd forgotten. Though a gentle smile lights his face. "I'm sorry I didn't get to get you anything. But a possessed doll attack is hardly the place for gifting." A chuckle.
As for Haru? "Don't worry too much. He probably wandered off with the rest of them. Like as not, he'll remember it as having been called away or something, but he won't be able to remember what called him away."
Prism Keeper Orange blushes. "Huh..? Oh.. were you invited?" she asks meekly. "It's fine, Hunter, you were there helping with the barrier n' all that..." she knows what a barrier is! One was used saving Ayana-chan... "...so that was a nice gift, to keep others away from that." she smiles softly. "I'm just glad you were in the area!" she says softly. "My friends were there, but..." she shrugs a bit.
She sighs and blushes. "Ayana-chan, my friend, keeps thinking I'm in love with Misa. I care about Misa a lot, but I'm not really sure I like girls." she says with a soft nod. "I like pr---"
Whoops she got too comfortable there, she blushes. "I like... boys. Yes." she says. "I guess I like older boys... I dunno why." she shrugs meekly. "I don't think there's anything wrong with that. Right?" she asks.
Hunter nods. "Those Barriers come in handy for a lot," he agrees. "Even if it doesn't keep the youma in, it gets normal people away. There's always that. Just sorry I couldn't keep the Barrier up. She drained it of energy, and if I'd fed any more into it, I would have been drained, too."
And then Reiko starts talking about her taste in boys. Hunter smirks. "I don't think so. There are adults like that too, on both sides of the gender divide. As long as it's not hurting anybody, right?"
Prism Keeper Orange nods a bit. "Yeah." she says softly as she sighs and looks down and then back up. "S-sorry I know that's awkward to talk about." she mutters. She softly looks around. "I.. I should get going I think." she admits with a little bit of a blush.
She bows. "Thanks for looking at the invitation, Hunter." she says. "I'm sorry it was a dead end... um. Should I give it back to you to give to Haru?... or.. do you think he doesn't care if he gets it back or not?" she asks sheepishly.
"Would that be weird? I mean I can do it.." she mutters softly.
"And you probably know him better than I do..."
Hunter smiles. "I don't mind." Awkward is a little moot when you have anonymity on your side! Which Hunter still does. Though maybe not for very long. Who knows when something will explode and necessitate Hunter to appear where Haru should have been? For now, though, he had that on his side. "I won't tell anyone, not to worry."
As for the invitation? "Haru might want to keep it, as a reminder," he notes. "There's nothing dark in it now. If it's safe, it shouldn't hurt him." What do you think?
Prism Keeper Orange nods some. "Okay..." she says. "I should bring it back to him sometimes soon then." she smiles. She head tilts. "Reminder...?" she blushes just a bit. "Yeah I guess." she says softly. She looks a little softly at this fact as she nods a little.
"Well.. um. I'm going. To get going now, I think." she says meekly. "Thanks for talking to me Hunter..." she smiles a bit- she'd hug but.. she doesn't want to seem eager to hug- but she does bounce on her heels a bit.
"I'll talk to you later, okay!?" she says softly. "I'll make sure he gets it back then! I can do it!" she says. Besides. It's possibly a good excuse to see him again. >,>
Not like she needs one.
Does she? <,<.
Hunter nods when Reiko asks about the reminder. "Of you, of course. So he'll remember when your birthday is." He chuckles. While Reiko seems hesitant to hug, Hunter does reach out and pat her on the shoulder. "Let me know if you want to talk again. If you can't find me, you can always ask Haru to have me find you."
The smile is visible on his face even if the rest of his face isn't. "Take care, Reiko-chan," he offers as he lifts up into the air on a green magical circle. He doesn't depart yet, in case she has parting words.
Prism Keeper Orange softly blinks and blushes-- R--reiko-chan!? Oh yeah that did it. "U--uh take care!" she says with a flush to her cheeks as she practicall stumbles off the tower and takes to the air---yup! She's off! Her wings flapping a mile minute off into the night!